[van-announce] weekend event - olympics & DTES

[Bella]

P L E A S E   F O R W A R D   W I D E L Y

You might want to attend this weekend's 2-day event on the 2010 Olympics 
and
learn how poor people in Vancouver's inner-city will likely be affected. 
The
guest speakers include people with experience fighting for people's 
housing
rights with the Toronto Olympic Bid. This weekend's event looks to be the
best analysis building and action planning event in the lead-up to the 
"Bid
Book" being presented to the IOC in January.

In this email:
1. October 25 opening evening program
2. October 26 conference program
3. Background

O P E N I N G   E V E N I N G
October 25 Gathering Place Community Centre
6pm-8pm . By donation $0-10 [$40 for institutional/gov't reps]
Guest Speakers: Michael Shapcott, Bread not Circuses (Toronto). Kris Olds,
Mega-events + housing (USA). Sponsored by the Gathering Place Community
Centre Association. Refreshments served.

C O N F E R E N C E
October 26  Carnegie Community Centre  10am-4pm,  FREE
Registration opens 9:30am with coffee + muffin, lunch served, bus tickets
provided for DTES residents in need)
Program:
10am Stories from Expo'86 roundtable
11am Presentation by Inner-City Inclusive Working Group (Committee of Bid
Corp and government and staff/volunteers from select community agencies)
12noon Bag lunch included on-site
12:45pm Plenary with break-out sessions with "experts" and residents on 
the
impacts of the Olympics on the inner-city: a) Protecting low-income 
housing;
b) TransLink and Skytrain to the airport; c) community economic 
development
and jobs; d) Health & Safety, implementing all four pillars - not just
enforcement
3pm: Closing Plenary to build consensus on residents' plan of action

B A C K G R O U N D
People have been trying to grapple with the potential impacts of the
Olympics on Vancouver's inner-city. The lessons from Expo'86 are serious,
and there have been 4 notable processes feeding into this CONFERENCE:

1) For the past month, each week DTES residents have gathered at the
Community Directions office at 384 Main Street (a "coalition" of Downtown
Eastside groups) to discuss the pros and cons of Vancouver hosting the 
2010
Winter Olympics. (see list at bottom for concerns brought forward by DTES
residents.)

2) For several months, the Vancouver Agreement, a tri-level government
partnership to deal with the "revitalization" of teh DTES has known about
the results of a study they commissioned titled: Impact of 2010 Olympic
Winter Games/Paralympic
Games on Vancouver's Inner City Neighbourhoods.  If they had the chance to
read the report, inner-city residents would be very concerned, as it
confirms their fears about the threats.


3) Six months ago, the Olympic Bid Corporation, along with the Vancouver
Agreement partners, established a process for inner-city agencies to be
"consulted" called the "Inner-City Inclusive Work Group." They have 
produced
an Intent Statement and Committment Statement which has yet to be shared
with inner-city residents. The strength of this "statements" can be judged
when they are shared for the first time with residents at 11am Saturday.

4) The Olympic Bid Corporation is in the middle of 20 "open houses" to 
share
their plans and receive feedback from the public. The poorest 
neighbourhoods
of the City (and those most impacted by Expo's legacy) have been 
completely
bypassed in this communications exercise. (A session has just been hastily
organised by the Bid Corp for Strathcona Community Centre after they were
criticized).

For these reasons, and many more, a community forum is important to 
provide
residents with a chance to participate and contribute their voices. The
following list reflects issues raised so far by residents:
. prevent the repeat of EXPO'86 hotel evictions
. legacies now: an anti-conversion & demolition control bylaw for hotels
. maintain 10,000 downtown low-income housing units thru this decade
. protect low-income access to bus service before Skytrain is expanded
. stop police sweeps for the Olympic inspection in February 2003
. demand equal implementation of all '4 pillars' for the DTES health 
crisis
. legacies now: fund supervised fixing sites for injection drug users
. stop the cuts to welfare and support for people with disabilities before
funding Olympics
. create meaningful employment and training for the inner-city
. provide recreation programs for First Nations adults & elders

See you this weekend! Please forward to friends and contacts.
Gloria Pavez


=====
talk-action=nothing

__________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
New DSL Internet Access from SBC & Yahoo!
http://sbc.yahoo.com